Dionne Warwick files for bankruptcy

Dionne Warwick has filed for bankruptcy after it was revealed she owes over £6m in taxes.

A petition was filed in New Jersey earlier this month in which Warwick lists her liabilities, including a £4.6m debt owed to the International Revenue service for tax between the period of 1991-1999. A further £2m in business tax is also owed by Warwick to the state of California. Filed in the report was Warwick’s monthly earnings of £13,000 with expenditure also listed at around the same amount.

A lawyer for Warwick, known for her hits including ‘Walk On By’ and ‘Say A Little Prayer’, claims that financial mismanagement is behind the debt and that she has already paid the taxes but now owes money in additional fines. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Daniel Stolz, said: “Before she knew it, she owed a gazillion dollars in taxes. She’s actually paid more than the face amount of the taxes, but with all of the crazy interest and penalties that they add, the number kept mushrooming – even though she paid off the amount that she owed in terms of the actual taxes.”

Stolz remains confident that the issue will be resolved, adding: “The taxes are of an age where under the bankruptcy code, they’re dischargeable taxes. We’ve found that we had no other resort other than to file bankruptcy so that we could get this off her back finally.”

Dionne Warwick released her first single in the 1960s and has gone on to sell over 100m records in the subsequent 50 years. The late Whitney Houston was her cousin.